Goya's Ghosts

[galtgulch]

I never learned about the Inquisitions in my school days and as a child first encountered the torments inflicted upon the innocent when I dared pick up my older brother's copy of The Third Reich to my utter horror. Virtually none of the Christians I have ever met have any idea what the Church did to non believers throughout history. This little gem of a movie captures the flavor of the ordeal suffered by an innocent beautiful girl played by Natalie Portman.

It certainly has its flaws and incongruous moments which demand that we suspend disbelief. I was made to think that parts reminded me of Victor Hugo who was able to portray the human condition so poetically.

I love costume drama and good acting and courageous acts of individuals who engage in hoped for ingenious actions in unthinkable situations.

At a time when we have so many books written about the evils of religion I would hope this movie would reach a wide audience in the hope it would help many to acquire a perspective they otherwise lack.

The reviews are not all that positive. It was not really enjoyable to experience and have to observe the blatant audacity of evil doers who would be entertained by the family of the girl victimized. I suppose the movie might be called thought provoking. i wonder if anyone else here has seen it and what they felt and made of it.

galt

Edited July 24, 2007 by galtgulch

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Galt

I moved this topic to "Movies" from "Epistemology." Let's give people some links:

Goya's Ghosts (2006) (Imdb)

Goya's Ghosts (Wikipedia)

Goya's Ghosts (The official site)

Goya's Ghosts (Rotten Tomatoes, for reviews)

Michael

[John Dailey]

Galt:

~ Thanx for the ref. I remember, a while ago, reading something on this; forgot about it given no hype or followup, and...

Mike:

~ Thanx for the links. I'll make a point to catch it...DVD, of course. I'd be interested in Mel Gibson's 'review' of it, but, I doubt he'd've made a point of such...even with Natalie in it. I'm sure that he wouldn't regard its torture scenes as outdoing his comPASSION perspective. --- 'Course, if they did, no wonder it didn't get much hype!

LLAP

J:D

[Jonathan]

I just saw Goya's Ghosts for the first time last night. Overall I thought it was an okay film, but the idea of the character Brother Lorenzo, who is in charge of stepping up the Inquisition, being "put to The Question" by the father of one of the Inquisition's victims was really cool. What an intense scene.

J

[BaalChatzaf]

I just saw Goya's Ghosts for the first time last night. Overall I thought it was an okay film, but the idea of the character Brother Lorenzo, who is in charge of stepping up the Inquisition, being "put to The Question" by the father of one of the Inquisition's victims was really cool. What an intense scene.

J

Literally hoisted on his own petard. It was a wonderful portrayal of justice in action.

I found it amazing that the Inquisition in Spain was going on at approximately the time of the French Revolution.

Ba'al Chatzaf